Sheet feeder



J. R. WOOD SHEET FEEDER Sept. 6, 1955 5 Sheets-Sheet l Filed Jan. 6,1951 mw. n, wx. o

INVNTOR. JMES A? Waan BY Arme/Veys Sept. 6, 1955 J. R. woon 2,717,154

SHEET FEEDER Filed Jan. 6, 1951 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Aramvsya Sept. 6, 1955J. R. woon 2,717,154

SHEET FEEDER Filed Jan. 6, 1951 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 IN VEN TOR.

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United States Patent() `SHiimt rsspsn James R- Wood.. Cleveland, Ohio,assigner tenants-Sty` bold Company, Clcvslands. Qllio, s corporation ofDela- Wail'e Application January 6, 1951, Serial No. 204,756

s, claims.. (ci-andi).

This invention reiates to improvements in sheetfeeders of the type whichare-adapted to' fcedlsheetseither in a slow moving stream of overlappedsheets or rapidly in single file,v generallytermed single sheet feedingor sheet by sheet feeding.

One of the objects of the` invention is the provision of l proceed withthe description of those embodiments `of the invention which, foi` thepurposes of the present application, l have illustrated in theaccompanying drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a fragmental' side elevationalviewv illustrating a pile feeder embodying the inventionand'vconnectedwith s printing press. thc iiiiprcssico .cyliridcr only of which isshown.

Fig. 2- is a sectional; detail' view on a larger scale showing the drivefrom the press` tothe sheet separator anrlto the tape drive'roller.qThe, View may lbe consideredas taken approximately on the line 2 2 ofFig. l, although it shows almodiiied form of theinvention.

Fig, 3j is an elevational view also on'r a large scalev illustratingespecially the mechanism for'i'mparting nonfuniform drive to the tapedriving rollers for `sliuet byrsheet feeding, and i Fig. 4 isadiagrarnmatic view showing the velocity of the conveyor tapes whilerunning` for sheet by sheet feed'- ing or alternatively-while runningfor' stream feeding.

Referring frst to Fig. l' of the drawing',v 10; indicates the frame of arotary printing pressin whichis rotatably mounted in the usual;manne'rf'a'n impression cylinderv 11. 12 is afeedboardiwhiclrextendsforward' atabslightY downward inclination to apoint directly above cylinder 11', and 13 represents aiset of frontstops which` aremount'ed andI actuated to swingZ downtov the operative;position illustrated at the prop er time inY l'each printingl y'cle andto swing upwardlyV out of the way'during the rest Qfthe cycle. They areoperated'in a c'nventioiialmanner; as for example by means of a` cam,yno tilliistrated, turning with cylinder 11 Shaft 14 is geared to the,shaft` of cylinder 11 to turn at the same speed; It carries a,`s"1Jrt`)lcletwhee'llSv over which an endless chain 176 n n mounted on theAsheet feeder. The sheet `separating and forwarding mechanism 'is drivenin*` onetio-fone. relation with the rotation of'rspr'oclet 17 andconsequently in the same relation `with thatof cylinder 1J.; andfthecooperating cylinders of'the printing press.

Portions of1 the side members of the feeder, frame, are shown at 18 and19. 'In frame mernber 18 there' is mounted a bushing-20; A shaft-21vis-journaled'in this runs'to a secondfsprocliet l17 Ace bushing so as toproject somewhat beyond frame member 18, the other endof the shaft beingjournaled in tlie other frame member 19. .On the outer side, of framemember 1 a hub V 22 is keyed to shaft 21.] It is provided with anannular rabbet 23 which is` of. slightly lcss depth than the thicknessof annular spocket wheel 17 Vwhichts within the rabbet and is angularlyadjustable therein. A clamping plate 24 surrounds shaft 21 and overlapssprocket wheel 17. A portion of the periphery of this plate iscut awayas indicated at 25 to accommodate a pin `26 that is mounted in sprocket17 and is adapted to bear against one or the other of theshoulders'atjthe ends of the cutaway portionv 25 of the clamping plate.

Clamping plate 24 is anchored in hub 2 2 by means of three bolts 27 uponthe outer ends of which are nuts 28. When plate 24 is to be adjustedfrom the position illustrated in Fig. 3 to a position in which pin`2n6abuts against the shoulder 29, nuts 28 are loosened, the plate 24v isturned to. the new position and the nuts again tightened. To facilitatethis operation the extremity of shaft 21 may be provided withrparallelat surfaces to receive a wrench so that the shaft, the hub 22 (and plate24) may bek turned relative to sprocket 17.

In the Fig. 1 form of the invention the sprocket 17 is permanentlyattached tohub. 2 2 instead of being adjustsblc relative thcrcto aslustl described and as shownin Figs. 2 and 3. l

A second sprockci whccl 32 and a scar 33ers locked to' hub 22 by thcbolts 2.7v A chain 34 runs ovcrsnrockct 32 and ovcr s sprocket 3.5 whichis loclccdto a. hub 36 that is kcycd to e shaft 37- The-chain, may bcmaintained, taut by means of an idler sprocket shaft 37 is caused toturn one revolution for.' each revolution of shaft 21 and consequentlyfor each revolution of cylinder 11- Shaft 37 drives thcshcct separating.and forwarding mechanism disnoscd above thc roar ofapilc d8 of shcctswhich arc to bc fod. to thc press, aridby this mechanism ashes-t is,kseparated. from. thc pile at cach cycle of thcprcss and started forwardtoward thc press.` This scpsratiris. and forwardingA mechanism. will bc.described vcry -briclly sincc pcr 'se it formsnopart of thc proscritinvcridon.` I

Shaft 37 carries a vcvcl acer indicated at 40 in Figx 1 which mesheswith a bcvslisear. 4l pinned to a .short shaft 42. On the latter shaftthere is` aV pinion 4.3. which meshes with, a second pinionA441121.1211. is keyed to a shaft 45 which extends fromy front ,to rearof the feeder. At its, rear end it is connected by bevel gears Ato atransverse shaft 47 upon whichris fixed,` a cani 48j turning one to onewith Vthe press. A follower 49- on a bellcranl;l 50 is actuated by thecam to reciprocatev a rodjSl, which swings. an arm 52' pinned to a shaft53 upon which are mounted one or more legs 5.4' carrying suckers 55.their lower ends which serve to lift the rear edge of the sheet. By theswinging. motion of' the legs S'4fthe top sheet may be pulled rearwardlya short distance to break it loose from the pile and thencarried'forward, preferably over one or more air blasts, until theforward' edge enters the bight of the nippe'r or pull-out.` rolls.Thefforward speed of suckers 55j is preferably made equaltothe sur: facespeed of the pull-out rolls kso that controloftlie sheet will betransferred. smoothly from the suckers to the conveyor. After the sheethas been taken by the conveyor, the suctiotn is cut olf and thesuckersdecelferate to zero speed and then return to their sheettakingposition. The

pull-out rolls in the illustrated case comprise atapedriving roller 56over which conveyor tapes i7 run and( a' series of wheels 58 disposed tobear upon the tapes or the sheets on the tapes-and by their own Weight'orby suitable vspring loading to press' thei sheets ragainst. the tapesand thus'impart good traction. Theupper; runs of the tapes 57 of Acourseoverlie the feedv board 12 and i1-` By thc means. described at theforward end of the feed board they run over an idler roller 59.

Uniform drive to conveyor taper- For stream feeding the tapes 57 arecaused to move at a constant relatively low speed. To this end a pinion62 is keyed to shaft 21. lt is adapted to mesh with a pinion 63 that isslidably keyed to the shaft 64 upon which the tape driving rollers 56are mounted. Shaft 64 is parallel to shaft 21 and closely adjacentthereto and is suitably journaled in frame members 18 and 19. A secondpinion 65 identical in size with pinion 62 is rotatably mounted on shaft2l hetween bushing and pinion 62. Pinion 63 may be caused to mesh witheither of pinions `62 and 65 or it may occupy-a position between thosepinions and out of mesh with both of them, as illustrated in Fig. 2. Theshifting of pinion 63 lengthwise of shaft 64 may be effected by anyconvenient means. in the illustrated case I employ a yoke 66 whichengages a peripheral groove in the pinion and is attached to a shift rod67 that may be moved lengthwise through a bushing 68 mounted in theframe member 18. The movement is effected by means of a manuallyturnable shaft 69 having a knurled knob 70 which may be turnedapproximately 90 in either direction from its neutral position. Shaft 69at its inner end carries a disk 71 in which is anchored a pin '72 thatis disposed between a pair of spaced plates 73 on rod 6'7. As will beapparent the turning of knob 7% a quarter turn in one direction from theneutral position of Fig. 2 will shift pinion 63 into mesh with pinion65, while turning it a quarter turn in the opposite direction will shiftit into mesh with pinion 62.

When pinions 62 and 63 are in mesh drive will be transmitted from chain16 through sprocket 17 to shaft 21 and thence through the meshingpinions to shaft 64, which will cause the tapes 57 to travel at aconstantly uniform low rate of speed.

Non-uniform drive to tapes for sheet by sheet feeding-This driveembodies a bell crank lever indicated generally at 75 that isoscillatable about the axis of shaft 21. In this bell crank one of thearms is formed as a yoke having spaced sections 76 and 77 attached-attheir outer ends to a sleeve 78 and at their inner ends having hubs 79and 80 which are journaled on the bushing 20 on opposite sides of aprojecting part of the frame member 18.` A short shaft 81 extendsthrough sleeve 78.

On one end it has a small gear 82 keyed thereto and meshing with gear33. On its opposite end there is keyed a larger gear 83 which mesheswith pinion 65. The train comprising gears 33, 82, 83 and pinion 65obviously drives pinion 65 at a higher angular speed than shaft 21. i

The other arm 85 of the bell crank carries at its extermity a noddle pin86 through which is mounted to slide a rod 87. A compression spring S8surrounds this rod between the nodclle pin and a collar S9 fixed on therod, the latter being pivotally anchored on the frame member 18 at 90.Also pivoted to arm 85 there is a link 91 which extends up to and ispivotally connected with one arm 92 of a lever that swings upon a pivot93 carried by the frame. The other arm 94 of this lever carries a rollerfollower 95 which runs upon the periphery of a cam 96 that is locked tohub 36 on shaft 37. Conveniently this cam and the sprocket 35 arefastened to the hub by the same bolts 97. By the connections described,as the follower 95 rides out onto the high portion of the cam the bellcrank 75 is swung in the clockwise direction, and as the spring 88causes the follower to ride down onto the lower portions of the cam thebell crank is swung in the counterclockwise direction.

The oscillation of the bell crank and the resulting travel of the gears32 and 83 over the gear 33 and pinion 65, part of the time to increasethe up gearing through the gear train and part of the time to decreaseit, provides a non-uniform rate of travel to the conveyor tapes, but thecontrol of these oscillations by means of the cam permits the degree ofslow-down and speed-up, and the extent of each, to be selected for thebest results. The diagram of Fig. 4 shows how the illustratedconstruction takes advantage of this fact. In this diagram the velocityof the tapes during one cycle of the press is shown at for streamfeeding, and the different velocities for sheet by sheet feeding areindicated at 101, 102 and 103 connected by diagonal lines indicating theincreasing and decreasing speeds.

As indicated in the diagram the speed ratio between sheet by sheetfeeding and stream feeding may be of the order of three and one-half toone. By means of the cam however this non-uniform speed is reducedduring the period marked A to the same speed as that at which the tapesrun continuously for stream feeding, which is the speed that correspondsto the forward travel of suckers 55. To make up for this lower thanbasic speed during the period marked C the cam provides a greater thanbasic speed for the comparatively extended period B. The timing is suchthat during the low speed period A when the forward edge of one sheet ispresented to the bight between pull-out rolls 56 and 58 the forward edgei); the preceding sheet is being presented to the front stops Themechanism for separating the sheets and forwarding them off the pilelmoves always at the same rate and the conveyor at the time it takes asheet moves also at the same rate and therefore cooperates properly withthe sheet feeding means regardless of which type of feed is beingemployed. Also the slow travel of the tapes when a sheet is presented tothe front stops in both types of feed prevents bouncing back of thesheets or crumpling of their front edges. Y Y

In the Fig. 1 form of the invention the distance between the pull-outrolls 56, 58 and the front stops 13 is an exact multiple ofthe spacingof the front edges of the sheets in the stream. Also in this form of theinvention the sprocket 17 is not adjustable as the sheets fed by eitherstream feeding or sheet by sheet feeding engage the front stops at thesame instant the press cycle.y When the mechanism is operated for sheetby sheet feeding the front edge of one sheet enters the pull-out rollsat the same time that the front edge of the preceding sheet engages thefront stops, and this is at the time that the velocity of the tapes isat the station A of the Fig. 4 diagram. y

When however the distance between the pull-out rolls and the front stopsis not a multiple of the spacing of the front edges of the sheets of thestream it is necessary in order to stream feed to change the timing ofthe sheet separator and forwarder so as to cause the sheets to engagethe front stops at the same instant in the press cycle as that at whichthe sheets engage the front stopsy while sheet by sheet feeding. It isfor this reason that the plate 24 must be placed in the Fig. 3 positionwhile stream feeding. VFor sheet by sheet feeding the plate 24 must beswung counterclockwise from the position of Fig. 3 until the pin 26strikes the shoulder 29 upon the clamping plate 24.

Obviously the movement of yoke 66 by the hand knob 70 to cause pinionr63to mesh with one or the other of pinions 62 and 65may be effected almostinstantly, and this is all that is necessary to change from one type offeed to the other provided that the distance between pullout rolls 56,58 and front stops 13 is a multiple of the u spacing of the front edgesof sheets making up a stream.

ln case this `dimension is not built into the machine then it becomesnecessary to shift the sprocket 17 from one position to the other aspreviously described. When the mav chine is being operated as a streamfeeder the bell crank 75 will oscillate back and forth and the gears 33,82 and 83 will turn, but inasmuch as pinion 65 is not then in mesh withpinion 63 the oscillation of the bell crank will have no effect. l

Having thus described lmy invention, I claim: l. In a sheet feeder forprinting presses or other sheet handling machines, a feed board, sheetseparating means having a forwarding action, front stops, conveyor meansfor taking the sheets from said separating means and moving themforwardly over said feed board either singly or in constant speed streamfeed relation, and a drive for said conveyor means selectively operableat constant stream feed speed or at non-uniform speed between streamfeed speed and higher speeds, the stream feed speed and the non-uniformspeed at the time each sheet is taken by the conveyor being the same andcorresponding with the forwarding action of said sheet separating means.

2. In mechanism of the character described, a tape roll shaft, a driveshaft, a pinion loose on said drive shaft, a second pinion keyed ltosaid drive shaft, a yoke oscillatably mounted on said drive shaft, agear train comprising said loose pinion, a gear on said drive shaft anda pair of gears on said yoke, means for oscillating said yoke, and shiftmeans for operatively connecting either one of said pinions to said taperoll shaft, whereby the latter may be driven at constant stream feedspeed or at non-uniform speed for single sheet feed.

3. Mechanism as defined in claim 2, comprising a cam driven at the sameangular speed as said drive shaft and a cam follower operativelyassociated with said yoke for oscillating the same, the oscillation ofsaid yoke by saidy cam being such as to impart rotation to said loosepinion during a portion of each cycle at the same angular speed as thatof said drive shaft.

4. In mechanism for feeding sheets from a pile selectively in a streamor singly, sheet separating means having a sheet forwarding actionoperated at constant speed, a feed board, means for conveying sheetsover said feed board, pull-out rolls cooperating with said conveyingmeans at the rear end thereof, and drive means for said conveying meansadjustable to a constant low speed for stream feeding or to anon-uniform speed for sheet by sheet feeding, said constant low speedcorresponding to the speed of operation of said sheet separating means,said non-uniform speed drive operating at said low speed at the time asheet is taken by said conveying means from said separating means and athigher speeds throughout the remainder of the cycle.

5. In mechanism for feeding sheets from a pile selectively in a streamor singly, sheet separating means having a sheet forwarding actionoperated at constant speed, a feed board, front stops at the forward endof said feed board, means for conveying sheets over said feed board,pull-out rolls cooperating with said conveying means at the rear endthereof, and drive means for said conveying means and pull-out rollsadjustable to a constant 10W speed for stream feeding or to anon-uniform speed for sheet by sheet feeding, said constant low speedcorresponding to the speed of operation of said sheet separating means,said non-uniform speed drive operating at said low speed at the time asheet is taken by said conveying means from said separating means and atthe time said conveying means advances the preceding sheet intoengagement with said front stops.

6. In mechanism for feeding sheets from a pile selectively in a streamor sheet by sheet, sheet separating means having a sheet forwardingaction operated at constant speed, a feed board, front stops at theforward end of said feed board, means for conveying sheets over saidfeed board, pull-out rolls cooperating with said conveying means` at therear-end of said feed board, drive means for said conveying means andpull-out rolls adjustable to a constant low speed for stream feeding orto a non-uniform speed for sheet by sheet feeding, said constant lowspeed corresponding to the speed of operation of said sheet separatingmeans, said non-uniform speed drive operating at said low speed at thetime the forward edge of a sheet engages said pull-out rolls and at thetime the forward edge of another sheet engages said front stops, thedistance between said pull-out rolls and said front stops being amultiple of the spacing of the front edges of the sheets in the stream.V

References Cited inthe file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,987,339 Hitchcock Ian. 8, 1935 2,060,800 Ehrig et al Nov. 17, 19362,159,147 Gumbel May 23, 1939 2,383,807 Luehrs et al. Aug. 28, 1945

